The History Of Greeley Colorado

About 7,000 years ago agriculture was first developed in South America but spread fast. As anyone knows who has lived in Greeley Colorado, for even a short while, this community has been involved in agriculture ever since in one form or the other. Even the crops of today are the same as the ancient ones grew, corn, pumpkins, squash and beans. These ancient ones have been around the Greeley area growing crops since 1200BC.

The cities first known settlers were the men and women of the Clovis mammal hunters. These people were in our fair city about 10,000 to 12,000 years ago. At this time our scientists are calling them the original first Native Americans.

These nomadic tribes followed the giant animals that came after the last ice age. These included mammoths, mastodons, camels, giant sloth's and the stag moose. About 11,600 years ago the Clovis point was invented. The Clovis point was a flint or stone point attached to long stick. These sticks turned into spears and other weapons and along with other methods made these mammal hunters very successful. The Clovis people lived as far North as Alaska and as far south as the Andes Mountains of South America.

As the Greeley area warmed many of thee giant animals disappeared and so they hunted antelope, big horn sheep, deer and moose along with fox, otter, and beaver. By comparison these were tame compared to the Saber Tooth.

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The hunters became food gathers next and since they didn't travel as much they began to produce more food that they could consume at one time. Therefore, they started to develop storage containers and methods. The next large step was grain grinding and bread baking.

More recent history states that the Kiowa Apache were in this area somewhere around 1500 or later. They confronted Coronado the Spanish explorer in 1540 south of Greeley in or near New Mexico. This is where the Native Americans got their first horses allowing them in future years to be the best mounted cavalry in the world. Later this area was home to the Arapaho and Cheyenne with occasional visits from the Ute's and Sioux among others. By 1865 the Arapaho and Cheyenne had ceded all their claims to the land in the Greeley area.

Settlers reported finding many Cheyenne tree burials in Greeley. These artifacts were found in the area now known as Island Grove Regional Park.

Horace Greeley was the one who said "go West young man, go West". The one who listened was an employee of Greeley's. Nathan Meeker the agriculture editor of Greeley's paper the New York Tribune and 59 other hardy souls headed West under the banner of a stock company named Union Colony.

Greeley himself visited only once in 1870 and went back to his home in New York. He evidently was not one to follow his own advice.

Meeker wanted to form a utopian community based on cooperation, irrigation, agriculture, temperance, religion and education.

By 1870 when Greeley arrived the colonists had erected houses, established newspapers, built irrigation canals and designed wide tree lined streets.

The first school was built in 1872 the court house in 1883 and the college in 1889. The people who founded Greeley were and industrious bunch. Meeker chose his people well, as he picked only the most financial stable and the most solid industrious families. Therefore, Greeley's success was insured while many other ventures like Meekers failed quickly.